No One in Particular
by Heritor
Summary: Twilight Sparkle was having a typical day when a disaster strikes nearby. It is but the first of many horrors she stumbles upon, and her future may change forever into a nightmare if she can't have the past altered. A My Little Pony: FiM one shot.


It was a dark and stormy day. The winds blew in harmony creating a discord of broken branches and scattered leaves to decorate the streets and gutters. Snakes dove into any warm and dry places they could find, squirrels stopped gathering nuts, birds positioned themselves on branches under other limbs, and rabbits huddled together inside some bushes they could munch on until the weather lifted. A bolt of lightning struck somewhere near Ponyville, but the only trace of it to the residents was a faint flash of light and barely-audible cry of thunder. The rain poured down violently, causing all the ponies to seek shelter- save three. One little pony ran outside so he could tell his mother he'd had his bath for the day, only to be dragged back inside for a scolding, and another pony was a young adult, brightly colored with her tongue sticking as far out as could be. As she stood in the rain, she smiled with glee. Then along came a voice.

"What're you doing, Pinky?"

Twilight Sparkle stared with eyes more widened than usual, but less open than they would be if she was asking anyone but Pinky Pie why she was doing something odd. She wasn't smiling, but she was preparing to for the moment when her jolly friend would give one of her goofy answers.

"Oh, hi, Twilight!" A few moments of silence passed as they made eye contact. Then Pinky's eyes burst open. "Right, your question! Silly me, I almost forgot it!"

"In ten seconds?" Twilight Sparkle thought to herself in near disbelief with a quick rolling of her eyes.

"It just so happens," she began, matter-of-factly, "that I am standing outside my home with my tongue hanging out." Twilight grinned and was about to silently sigh and then ask why when Pinky jumped into the air as if she was struck by lightning.

"What's wrong, Pinky?" Twilight asked at once, face full of concern.

"I can't believe I lied to you!" Pinky exclaimed. She fell on her belly with an expression of agony. "I completely forgot that I put my tongue back in right before answering your question. So the truth is, I am standing outside my home with my tongue _in_ my mouth. Oh, Twilight, please, please forgive me! I promise I'll never lie to you ever ever EVER again!" And with that, she threw herself at both her friend's feet and mercy while looking up pitifully.

"Um, don't worry about it. All is- forgiven," Twilight responded not too awkwardly. "Though if I may, _why _were you standing outside your home with your tongue hanging out?"

"Hee hee, isn't it obvious, Twilight?" Pinky said with a hoof over her mouth, trying not to giggle at the silly question.

"Sorry, it's been a long day. Would you please explain it for me?" Twilight prepared herself.

"Because," Pinky began, "I can't catch rainwater with my tongue standing INSIDE my home! Duh! Well, I'm done for now, so bye bye!" With that, she hopped back into Sugercube Corner and climbed up into her loft.

Twilight pursed her lips trying not to grin too widely or burst out laughing.

"Oh, Pinky…"

_My Little Pony, My Little Pony,_

_Ahh ahh ahh ahhh… _

_My Little Pony!_

_I used to wonder what friendship could be._

_My Little Pony!_

_Until you all shared its magic with me._

_Big adventure!_

_Tons of fun!_

_A beautiful heart._

_Faithful and strong._

_Sharing kindness,_

_It's an easy feat,_

_And magic makes it all complete!_

_You have my little ponies!_

_Do you know you're all my very best friends?_

**No One in Particular**

"Spike! Book!" Twilight Sparkle's patience was growing thin. Her dragon assistant usually knew exactly where the books were that she wanted, and that was why she was tapping her hoof on the library floor. If Spike usually took this long, it wouldn't have bothered her, but after being spoiled for so long, having to wait was a rather new, unpleasant experience. This feeling of dissatisfaction was only magnified by her immense excitement of using the contents of the tome as soon as possible. She nearly stomped one of her front hooves at one point but instead simply applied increased pressure on all four which Spike didn't notice. Still, in his frenzy to accomplish his mission, he most likely wouldn't have even noticed a stomp either.

His eyes scanned the shelves from atop a wooden ladder, and the tenseness in his muscles continued to increase. By this time, Spike was soaked in sweat, and he continued to perspire at a fast rate. The purple dragon was beginning to lose hope, and fear gripped his heart like Rarity finding a precious stone. He stepped down and pushed the ladder a few yards to the left and resumed his search. Twilight's eyes did not leave him, and he felt the pressure of her gaze baring through his thick scales. He grabbed one book that he thought might be it (as there was no title on the spine) but was disappointed. He glanced up but only managed to find two more books that weren't right. He put his hand on his chin and furrowed his brow as he turned slightly down and to the right. With a sudden burst of triumphant glee, his eyes widened and he released a loud, "Ah ha!"

"You found it!" Twilight asked with great joy. She nearly leapt into the air but felt that would be undignified so refrained.

"I sure did. Hang on." Spike climbed halfway down the ladder then hopped off of it. "Here," he said, holding up an apple core. "I've been looking for that for ages. Much longer, and it would've stunk up our house."

An egg could be fried on Twilight's fuming head, and indeed, steam was pouring from her ears, but with as breath a deep as she could muster, her body cooled off enough to at least speak in a somewhat-normal voice. She looked into Spike's eyes, forced a small smile, and tilted her head slightly.

Though her mouth movements seemed a bit stiff, she managed to say, "Good- work…"

"Thanks!" With that, he plopped the rest into his mouth, barely chewed, then swallowed, which arose the question in the young pony's mind of why he didn't eat it all to begin with. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she tried to recall where the book might be. A difficult task indeed, as she relied on Spike to the extent that she took very little of objects' locations to memory. Though she couldn't place the exact book, after a few minutes, something did cross her mind.

"Spike! What did you do with that book you used for a pillow two nights ago?" Her face was bright and hopeful as she asked. Surely he had taken that very book, for how else could he not locate it on the shelves?

"I rested the right side of my head on it as I slept. What else do you use a pillow for? Wait, or was it the left side of my face?" Twilight started getting impatient again. "I curled up like this," Spike continued, imitating what he does before sleeping, "so yeah, it was the left side. But wait! Maybe I turned right before setting my head down. Or maybe after? That would mean I rested BOTH sides of my head on the book! Ooh, and maybe the back as well, but surely not the front. That would hurt my nose."

"SPIIIIIKE!" Twilight screamed with a volume that shook the nearby table. Her eyes were wide with intensity and she was trembling. "Just- get- the book."

"Sure thing," he replied as he trotted off to his little bed. He arrived promptly and looked around only to bare a puzzled countenance. "Huh. I musta put it somewhere else." The entire tree suddenly shook violently and some books fell from the shelves. "Oh wait, here it is," he announced coolly, going over to the window sill. "I put it under some light to dry since it got my saliva all over it." Picking it up, he walked back to Twilight and said, "Here ya go."

"Thank- you," she uttered with the last of her strength. After a few moments of flipping through pages with the magic of her horn, she at last found the page she was looking for. She grinned from ear to ear, and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "Here it is! The spell I've wanted to try since yesterday!"

"A new spell, huh?" Spike asked with interest, looking over her shoulder at the pages. "Ooh, this one looks hard to cast." After a short pause, he quickly added, "But I'm sure you'll master it in no time!"

With a quick turn to him, she replied, "Thanks, Spike. Okay, to cast this spell, I need-"

"So what exactly does it do?" the little dragon inquired, not understanding the description.

Though it wasn't what she was originally going to say next, Twilight completed her last sentence with, "-complete concentration."

"Gotcha. I'm going to go and pick up those books, okay?" he "asked," but he went to do so before getting a response.

"Sounds good," she replied at last. "Now then, I focus my magic through the tip-"

"Mm- mm mm- mm mm. Mm- mm mm- mm mm mm mm mm mm," Spike hummed gaily as he went about his work. He had several books stacked on top of each other before he began ascending the ladder.

"-of my horn. I need to apply a little pressure on-"

"I wonder what Rarity's up to?" Spike asked no one in particular as he started filling up the empty slots with books. He quickly noticed that he put one in the wrong spot and yanked it out, followed by a quick glanced back to see if Twilight had seen it. But no, she was still trying to focus on the spell.

"-my front left hoof and a lot on my front right one. My back ones need to be positioned widely apart, and my teeth need to be clenched. Both of my eyes must be open, and-"

"Oh, it's almost lunch time. What should I make?" Spike asked midway through putting a book up and turning to her. Trying to focus on two things at once, however, loosened his grip on the step, and he fell off. The last book he had to put up landed open on his head, the sides hanging over the front and back.

"Aw, shoot," he muttered unhappily.

Twilight Sparkle was too pleased with the prospect of this new spell to be mad at Spike's interruptions, but angry or not, she did want them to stop. Fortunately, his last comment gave her an idea.

"How about you go down to the café, get me a foot-long clover sub, and get yourself whatever you'd like," she suggested, eyes still on the instructions.

"You got it!" Spike ran up the ladder, put the book where it needed to be, and this time hopped off from the very top, landing with a loud thud. He bolted to the door, and after two squeaky noises, the room was quiet at last.

"Phew," Twilight said to herself, eyes temporarily at the ceiling. "Okay, I think I got this dow-"

"Wait, what do you want to drink?" Spike questioned from outside her window.

"Uh, whatever you think is good," she mumbled, eyes still fixated on the page. He gave her a thumbs-up sign and was soon out of sight.

Twilight, with a look of fierce determination, stepped back and got into position. Her glare shifted around the room, looking for the tiny creature she'd noticed earlier today. When she didn't see it, she jumped up and landed hard, causing a very tiny tremor, but it was sufficient. The fly in the room was disturbed enough to once again take to the air, and she spied her target deviously. She spread out her back legs, applied extra pressure on her front ones, kept her eyes open and focused on it, then concentrated her magic into the very tip of her horn. It was very strenuous work, as most spells could be done with a general flow of magic through the entire appendage. Trying to place all of her energy at a single point of it was like trying to stand on one hoof. After a few moments, she suddenly realized that she'd been holding her breath, so she quickly took in generous amounts of air to get her body relaxed again. With her tension gone, she continued to cast, and the highest point of her horn began to glow like a brilliant star in the dead of night. She took in one, final, deep breath, and eyes locked on the fly, she let loose the spell.

"Hiya, Twilight!"

"NO!" she screamed. Picky Pie had quietly entered her house and had gotten directly in front of her. Even with her eyes open, she had been so focused on the tiny insect that the surrounding world had gone by unnoticed. With a crack of light and loud snapping sound, magic flew from her horn and hit Pinky dead on. She was knocked into the air, and her mane scattered as if she had been struck with static electricity. When she landed at last, a tiny bit of smoke arose from her body, but otherwise, she seemed fine.

"I am SO sorry!" Twilight said at once. "I didn't see you come in." There was silence. "Pin-ky?" she asked slowly, terrified that she'd hurt her friend.

"No need to apologize!" Pinky Pie exclaimed as she hopped up and down and smiled with her eyes closed. "I feel okey dokey lokey! Still, what was that spell for anyway?"

Twilight Sparkle's face immediately grew red. The spell, in all actuality, _was meant _for Pinky, but if not tested, it could be dangerous. It was all going to be for a prank, as all those jokes Pinky had played on her had gotten Twilight into the humorous spirit. Still, explaining that she was planning to cast a spell on her was a very awkward thing to say. She shifted uncomfortably, and one of her front hooves slid along the ground in tiny circles.

Looking at the floor, she explained, "Oh, it's just a- personality spell," she mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Ooh, sounds fun!" Pinky shouted, jumping really high into the air. "How does it work?"

"Well, it just focuses one's personality into a very different direction than the pony would ever consider. For example, an outgoing, blunt pony might become very shy and reserved," Twilight explained.

"That sounds like the perfect spell to use as a prank on Rainbow Dash!"

"Yeah, heh heh, a prank…" she replied awkwardly. Then it suddenly occurred to Twilight. "You- don't seem any different." With that, she eyed Pinky carefully, moving her focus all around.

"Nope! I'm still Pinky Pie alright! Well, gotta go. I'm hungry. Bye bye!" With that, the pink pony let herself out and trotted down the street.

"Phew," Twilight said at once, lowering her head. "It didn't work, but at least she's not hurt. Maybe that was too extreme for a prank anyway." Twilight gently closed the book with her hoof instead of using magic and sat down on one of her chairs as she waited for Spike to come back with there lunch.

"Just what did I do wrong?" Twilight wondered. She wasn't so much disappointed that it didn't work as she was in her own inability to do it right on her first try. She was Princess Celestia's star student, and there were plenty of them that could do spells like this in one go. Her earlier excitement replaced with despair, she stared into space with nothing specific on her mind, only concern.

"You okay?"

"Ah!" she yelped, falling off of her chair.

"Gee, I guess not," Spike deduced, looking down at her.

Mane disheveled, she sighed from the ground from all the surprises, but the fragrance of the sandwich picked her lips up at once. Her worries dissolved, she resumed her place at the table to eat her lunch. Spike set a plate for them both and set the food on top of them, followed by little, blue bottles that had mineral water labels she recognized. Twilight nearly laughed at the obvious presence of the young dragon's sweet tooth, as his "lunch" was three chocolate cupcakes. She giggled as he plopped each in whole and barely chewed. Done eating before Twilight even got the chance to begin, he licked the chocolate frosting off of his lips and cheeks and hiccupped. The young pony got to work on her own food, eating slowly and carefully with extra emphasis to set an example. Spike rolled his eyes and grinned.

"There, Spike. That is the proper way to ea _hic_!" She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment at the irony and turned to what Spike brought to drink. She twisted off the cap with her magic and lifted her bottle to her mouth the same way. As the cool water slid from her mouth to her throat, it erupted in the opposite direction. "Is this expired!" she exclaimed, sputtering.

"Nope! I checked the expiration date before I bought them," Spike assured her.

"Then why does it taste so, so… not mineral-ly?" she wondered, staring at the bottle.

"Oh, that's because mineral water is gross. I only got them for the bottles. I filled them with some puddle water from the storm yesterday. Rainwater is the best!" And with that, Spike picked up his bottle and gulped the fluid down greedily.

Twilight stared into space with a wide-eyed expression before coming back to her senses and laughed nervously to avoid saying something that might hurt his feelings. She really did appreciate the thought though. Subtly pushing the bottle away, Twilight finished her sandwich and decided to make conversation.

"So, do you know what the others are up to? Maybe see them on the way to get our lunch?" she asked in between bites when her mouth was empty.

"I bumped into Pinky Pie and asked her the same thing, actually. She said that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack are all out of town. Pfft."

"Heh heh, what was the 'pfft' for, Spike?" she asked before taking the last bite of her food.

"I was just thinking about how bad that would be if this was a fan fiction," he said in an irritated tone.

"A what?" she asked curiously, leaning forward in her seat to hear. She loved learning new things.

"You know, a fictional story written about something that already exists that you're a fan of. They can be so realistic, like they're really happening, but are always made-up tales. Well anyway, having four main characters conveniently away just sounds like a really lazy way of getting out of having to portray them," he explained, continuing to sound unhappy.

Twilight laughed and said, "Relax, Spike. This is real life, not some 'fan fiction' thing, so there's nothing to be upset about. I am curious though, who writes them? Maybe I'll read one sometime."

"Who writes fan fictions? No one in particular," he answered. "Anyone can."

Twilight Sparkle was intrigued by the prospect, but she felt that she'd be better at helping with one than doing one herself. They sounded like quite the undertaking. However, her thoughts were cut short by an explosion that shook the surrounding area, including her home. She jumped from her seat and ran out of the door. Looking around frantically, she saw that it had come from the Sugercube Corner. Fire and smoke were rising from the cherished bakery, and with the door closed, Twilight was very much afraid that there were still ponies inside.

Looking back inside, she called, "Come on, Spike! We have to put out the fire and see if anyone is hurt!"

Spike bolted over and jumped onto her back, and she galloped to the disaster at full speed. Both of them watched the flames eat away at the bakery in horror. Pushing her legs to the limit, Twilight moved so fast that she nearly tripped on nothing at all. When they arrived, she said what needed to be done at once.

"I'm going to get this fire out! You're a dragon so have some protection against non-dragon flames and heat. Get inside and see if you can find Mr. and Mrs. Cake and maybe any customers."

"On it!" Spike exclaimed, moving his hand to his forehead then back down to his side with a very determined look as he hopped off of her back. He opened the door quickly and went inside. The smoke was thick, and it made him cough several times, but he put his hands over his nose and started to crawl along the floorboards.

Outside, Twilight was hard at work. Her horn glowing brilliantly and her thoughts focused intently, the nearest water tower was making its way towards her location by air. It was so heavy, and there was more ground to cover than back when she defeated that Ursa Minor, so she faltered, twice. The second time, it nearly hit the ground, but she lifted it back up just in time. At this point, a huge crowd had gathered. Some were willing to help, but all of them knew the famed Twilight Sparkle had it all taken care and that they'd only get in her way there. When the water reached the bakery, she had to lift the container even higher, and she sweated profusely under the strain. She might not have found the strength were it not for the shouts of encouragement from the crowd. Finally, she tipped it upside down, and the water flooded the building. The fire went out almost at once from the flooding, though smoke still poured from the windows. Twilight was relieved, but her feeling of comfort lasted only momentarily. Spike was still inside, and possibly, the bakers too!

Without waiting another moment, despite the remaining heat and suffocating steam inside, Twilight galloped into the building. She went from room to room, looking frantically and calling out her assistant's name. Still not seeing or hearing him, she started to panic. Only one more room remained unsearched, and she bounded towards it. Heart pounding, thoughts and hooves racing, Spike was- not there. Were the flames too great? Was he burned up? She shook her head back and forth violently, tears filling her eyes and not from the steam. Suddenly, her ears perked up when she heard a small noise. It sounded like someone was sniffing, but she'd already looked in every room. There was no way for him to get to the roof, was there?

She ran back outside and looked up. Shouting all the more, she still did not get a response. Despite running all around the building, there was no sign of the dragon anywhere. Reaching the peak of anxiety, she ran back inside and decided to look in every room again, only more carefully. This time, looking more deeply into the mist, she saw Spike sitting in the very first room. His knees were up, and his arms were wrapped around them, rocking back and forth in a daze along with a blank expression.

"Spike!" she exclaimed with sudden relief. When he did not respond at all, she stepped closer, but her eyes caught something else in the process. Shrouded in the smoky room was bright red liquid splattered on the walls and floor. But that wasn't all. Twilight then saw exactly what brought Spike out of his senses. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were lying on the floor, unmoving. About to mourn the loss, she stopped short when she made a horrifying revelation. Their bodies were not burned. The room hadn't been consumed by the fire enough to reach them before she had put it out. She stepped forward only to jerk back as she gasped in horror.

The crimson color in the room came from their mouths. Both of their tongues had been cut out and placed in a neat pile beside them. There were no other wounds, so they had died slowly from bleeding to death. That wasn't all there was to see, though. On their cheeks, smiley faces were drawn with blood. She was stunned just like was Spike was, but when she had gathered herself, she grabbed Spike by the tail and ran out of there. Twilight wanted to get Spike home as quickly as possible to settle him down, but they were stopped by cheers from the townsponies for helping with the catastrophe. She grinned at them both politely and very awkwardly, but the contents of her mouth overtook her feet, so she remained before the crowd no longer. In almost no time, she was back at her home, and she set Spike in his bed.

"There, there, Spike. Shhh," she said soothingly. "It'll be alright. I am so sorry you had to see that." He did not reply, still in shock from seeing death, and a death so gruesome at that. Setting him on his side and pulling his blanket up over him, she turned off all the lights, covered the windows, and went out. She wanted to investigate the source of the fire. After seeing those corpses, she had a suspicion that it was no accident. Unfortunately, when she went inside, she saw that the bakery still had ponies all around, so she knew she had to wait until night. Deciding to read until the moon took its place in the sky, she returned to her home.

Twilight didn't want to wake Spike, so she searched for a good book on her own, eventually finding one about some simple spells. Though she knew most of them, if it involved reading and magic, she was all over it. She created a fire with her horn and read for over two hours before she heard a knocking at her door. She guessed it was Pinky Pie, as the other four were gone, or perhaps Zecora. She smiled in anticipation of who her guest might be and set the book down. When she opened the door, she discovered that she'd been wrong on both counts. It wasn't anyone she was expecting, nor was it "a guest." Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were standing together like usual, but oddly enough, they didn't look cheerful at all. Instead, they bore expressions of pain and exhaustion.

"What's the matter, girls!" Twilight asked them at once. She didn't have to be perceptive to see there was something terribly wrong with them.

They wobbled in unison and didn't look directly at Twilight or anything really. The cutie mark crusaders seemed very sick, and what happened next confirmed it. Scootaloo opened her mouth to say Twilight's name when instead came a gushing of vomit. Apple Bloom threw up three times, but Sweetie Belle didn't lose anything. Her body convulsed, but nothing came out- dry heaves. All but Scootaloo proceeded to collapse at the doorstep, but it wasn't long before she followed her friends. Shocked, but not so much that she couldn't react, Twilight Sparkle lifted them up immediately but gently with her magic and carried them into her home. Despite the puke they were covered in, she set them on her bed. She didn't care about having to wash her sheets and blanket, only that the girls were comfortable.

Pulling her covers up over them, she went to the kitchen area to get some clean rags. Filling them with cold water, she magically carried them back to lay them on their foreheads to help them relax. Even though she hadn't carried them physically, she had still felt with her moving power that they were very hot. It was obvious they were feverish, and she knew they wouldn't get the best care here, but rather, at a doctor's office. She decided to call one for help after getting the cool washcloths on them, but when she got back, her mouth plummeted like a stone in a dark ocean, and the rags fell to the ground with soggy thuds. The girls on her bed- were dead.

She checked their pulses three times to be sure, and there was no doubt about it. Overwhelmed with confusion, shock, horror, and anguish, she fell to her knees and cried. Twilight wept bitterly for her friends and their sisters, as they would be even more upset when they find out what happened to them. When at last she opened her teary eyes, at eye level with her mattress, she saw stickers on the children's ankles. They were- red smiley faces. Suddenly, all of her previous emotions were washed away with a wave of rage. Someone had sadistically killed Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and now the same pony had just poisoned three, innocent, young girls she had cared for deeply. It was pretty dark now, so she bolted out of her house to investigate that shop for any clues.

Twilight's hooves echoed in the night, and she made no attempt at stealth. Enraged ponies usually don't. She was nearly there when she stumbled over something large and went sailing through the air, landing hard on her face. She received a bloody snout, but she was more concerned with what she'd hit. It didn't feel like something, though; it felt like- some_one_. She couldn't see all too well, as this was a dimly-lit part of Ponyville, so she made her horn glow and looked down. She cried out and nearly stumbled as she instinctively stepped back. Lying on the ground was Applejack's brother, dead. Upon closer inspection, she saw a large lump in his throat. Magically, she opened his mouth and pulled whatever it was out. She gazed upon a red delicious apple- with a smiley face carved into it.

"Rgh!" she screamed in anguish and anger as she continued on to the remains of the bakery. She burst through the doors, horn still lit, and began searching for anything, anything at all to find out who was behind this. She wondered if anyone else had come to investigate by now, like perhaps some guards. At first, the place seemed empty. Just then, she heard a creaking sound and nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning around, she saw the door opening and closing. "Whew, just the wind," she said to herself with relief. However, the breeze was blowing more than just that. She also heard a swishing sound coming from overhead, like wings moving through the air, and she slowly craned her neck up. Silhouetted near the ceiling of the dark building, swinging like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, was someone she recognized. Twilight Sparkle lost all control of her body when she saw Princess Celestia hanging from a red rope, the fur around her neck severely worn away. The knot holding the noose together had- a smiley face burned into it.

She screamed, and her cry pierced the air like a dagger through the heart. She didn't care if anyone heard her now. She was too shaken to focus on any clues now. She galloped back to her home without looking back to be near her dragon friend. She'd lose her sanity otherwise. Opening the door in a frenzy, she rushed to Spike's bed. No longer worried about waking him up, she nudged him gently several times with her snout. She absolutely needed a friend right now. After nearly a minute of nudging the face-down dragon, she finally realized it. Spike wasn't breathing. She turned him over at once to see a large hole in his chest. She could see his heart protruding from it, and there was a smiley face carved into it. Twilight flew back into a wall, her eyes widened into a look of madness, and she began rocking back and forth like Spike had.

"What's the matter, Twilight?" a voice rang out in the darkness.

She snapped back to reality at once and asked, "Pinky? Pinky, is that you? Please please PLEASE tell me that it is!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Easy, Twilight! Just relax and tell old Pinky what's wrong," she said comfortingly as she came over to her friend and wrapped a hoof around her neck.

"So many- dead- my- my friends- dead…" was all she could manage to say at first. Finally, she looked up at her friend, her face full of tears, sweat, and mucus, and was beyond horrified. Pinky was smiling at her and wearing red makeup.

She jerked up and away in an instant and screamed, "You killed them!"

"Hee hee, isn't it obvious, Twilight?" Pinky said with a hoof over her mouth, trying not to giggle at the silly question.

"No, no, I don't believe it!" she exclaimed, terrified.

"Aw, don't be like that, Twilight! You should like, totally believe it because it's true. I said I'd never lie to you again, remember?"

"Then why would you…" but she was too overcome to continue.

"I dunno. I just suddenly felt like it after I left your place. Anyway, I'll see you later. I need to figure out how to do in the four others when they get back. I'm only keeping you around because it would be super-duper boring to have no one to talk to, you know?"

"You felt like this right after you left… That's it! My personality spell! It made you- AH!" she suddenly cried with her hooves over her head, realizing that all these deaths were actually her fault.

As Pinky Pie closed the door behind her, Twilight collapsed. She wasn't dead, but with all her heart, she wished that Pinky Pie was unable to get bored.

**The End**

I loved working in the basement. There was so much room along with very comfortable furniture. Unlike a lot of underground sections of a house, this one had no musty smell. It was cool but not uncomfortably cold, so it was my writing paradise. I sat back on the couch, satisfied with my story and prepared to close my laptop screen. My back was sore from writing it all in one go, save a small break for a snack. Stretching, I placed my hands on it and began to pull back when words suddenly appeared on my screen. I thought it was some stupid computer message or glitch, but when I read it, I froze in my chair.

"You there! Can you see these words?" is what I saw.

I assumed that I fell asleep at some point, so just to humor my imagination, I typed, "Yes, I can see them. Who's this?"

"It's Twilight Sparkle. Let me explain to you what's going on. Even though you stopped writing your fan fiction, my magic allowed me to keep going. I know magic isn't supposed to act on its own, but I think my subconscious controlled it out of grief, or something like that. But that's not important. Listen up! I felt something was wrong earlier, like this whole thing couldn't be real. I bit myself and learned it wasn't a dream, but I refused to accept this was reality. I thought and thought, and then it occurred to me after recalling what Spike said about fan fictions. That book of simple spells I read earlier had one about revealing truth, and when I cast it, I saw this entire story and discovered that it was all a creation of your imagination."

At this point, dream or not, I was feeling disturbed, but I responded anyway with, "Well, uh, what happens now?"

"I began communicating with you through magic to make a request."

"Um, sure, shoot." I leaned forward on the couch in anticipation.

"Change your story, please. This isn't realistic at all; you've ruined my life. I can't go on like this. With my magic, I am able to keep things going here without you writing, but what's the point without friends? This story was just dark and disturbing and doesn't fit in my universe at all. Things here are happy, at least in the end. I beg of you to alter this fan fiction for all our sakes."

"Now hang on!" I cried indignantly. "I put a lot of work into this story. I was just about to upload it to a fan fiction site and a forum later. It's dedicated to one of my best friends on both places, LBTDiclonius. She enjoys dark stories like this. You really expect me to change it? I couldn't think of a realistic story for this universe, so I had to go with a farfetched one. It's so much easier for me to take liberties, so long as I explain them. I wrote a The Land Before Time series with magic and dragons for crying out loud!" I suddenly froze, realizing that Twilight wouldn't understand the majority of my response. "Look, I made this as a gift to someone I care about, and I will not so eagerly erase it."

I started to move the pointer to close the document so she couldn't communicate with me anymore. I wasn't going to take this from a character of my own story. I had every right to put whatever I want into my fan fictions, and no unicorn is going to take away my freedom. But when I saw she typed to me again, I just couldn't help myself and read the text.

"That's thoughtful of you, but is a gift more important than someone's entire life?" Twilight pleaded with me. I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "I'm sure you can come up with a story eventually that she'll like that doesn't destroy me and my friends' future. I believe in you, and if you do too, I think you'll create a story that'll impress her and is happy and also realize that this story just can't remain the way it is. Please, sir, change it."

At that point, I bit my lip and gave in. I just couldn't leave Twilight and the others like that. Someday, I'll have just have to write a pleasant My Little Pony fan fiction for my friend. For the time being, though, I had a story to change.

"Alright, I'll do it," I typed on the page.

"Thank you so much! If you were here in Ponyville, I'd hug you right now!" she wrote. I imagined her having tears at this point, but she was acting on her own right now, and I couldn't see her, so I could only guess. "And before you go, I'd like to offer one bit of advice."

"Oh?" I asked with perked interest.

"Proofread your work a bit more. On page seven, you used the wrong homonym."

"What!" I thought to myself. I take great pride in my grammar. I just could not believe her. I scrolled up and began re-reading, and low and behold, I used "there" when I should have put "their." I turned red and was relieved that at least Twilight couldn't see me. "Thank you," I typed. "And farewell."

"You're welcome, and you too. And by the way, you look cute when you're embarrassed."

**No One in Particular**

"Spike! Book!" Twilight Sparkle's patience was growing thin. Her dragon assistant usually knew exactly where the books were that she wanted, and that was why she was tapping her hoof on the library floor. If Spike usually took this long, it wouldn't have bothered her, but after being spoiled for so long, having to wait was a rather new, unpleasant experience. This feeling of dissatisfaction was only magnified by her immense excitement of using the contents of the tome as soon as possible. She nearly stomped one of her front hooves at one point but instead simply applied increased pressure on all four which Spike didn't notice. Still, in his frenzy to accomplish his mission, he most likely wouldn't have even noticed a stomp either.

His eyes scanned the shelves from atop a wooden ladder, and the tenseness in his muscles continued to increase. By this time, Spike was soaked in sweat, and he continued to perspire at a fast rate. The purple dragon was beginning to lose hope, and fear gripped his heart like Rarity finding a precious stone. He stepped down and pushed the ladder a few yards to the left and resumed his search. Twilight's eyes did not leave him, and he felt the pressure of her gaze baring through his thick scales. He grabbed one book that he thought might be it (as there was no title on the spine) but was disappointed. He glanced up but only managed to find two more books that weren't right. He put his hand on his chin and furrowed his brow as he turned slightly down and to the right. With a sudden burst of triumphant glee, his eyes widened and he released a loud, "Ah ha!"

"You found it!" Twilight asked with great joy. She nearly leapt into the air but felt that would be undignified so refrained.

"I sure did. Hang on." Spike climbed halfway down the ladder then hopped off of it. "Here," he said, holding up an apple core. "I've been looking for that for ages. Much longer, and it would've stunk up our house."

Twilight was about to get angry, but not wanting to explode in front of her assistant, she took a deep breath and cooled her emotions, just laughing it off. She turned to Spike and shook her head with a big smile.

"Don't worry about it, Spike. It was just for a silly prank anyway. Want to go and get some lunch with me?" she asked him.

"Do I!" he replied eagerly, jumping with enthusiasm.

Before they left, Twilight Sparkle went to a window and glanced up to the sky, but it seemed more like she was looking beyond it than at it. Then, she smiled and winked.

"Twilight?" Spike began.

"Yes, Spike?"

"Who did you just wink at?"

Twilight giggled with a hoof over her mouth and replied, "Oh, no one in particular."

**The End (For Real This Time)**


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